News Release

WHOI VP for Marine Operations Bob Detrick Appointed to NSF Post

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Geosciences
has appointed Robert Detrick of the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution (WHOI) as its new director of the Division of Earth
Sciences.

Detrick is currently a senior scientist and vice
president for Marine Facilities and Operations at WHOI, and will begin
his NSF position on Nov. 3, 2008.

"We are delighted that Bob
Detrick will be joining NSF in this important national leadership
role," said Tim Killeen, NSF assistant director of Geosciences. "This
appointment augurs well for the earth sciences, and the geosciences in
general. I'm looking forward to working closely with him."

Detrick
is a geophysicist and seismologist. His research has focused primarily
on the structure and evolution of oceanic crust, the size, depth and
physical properties of ridge crest magma chambers, and the effect of
hotspots on the thermal evolution of the lithosphere.

Detrick
is a former member and chair of NSF's Advisory Committee for
Geosciences. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and a
former president of its Tectonophysics Section. Detrick has authored or
co-authored more than 100 papers in the peer-reviewed literature,
including 14 papers in Nature and Science.

During
his tenure at WHOI, he oversaw several large projects, including the
development of the institution's successful proposal to be the
implementing organization for the coastal and global components of the
NSF-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative, and the institution's effort
to design and build a replacement human occupied vehicle.

Detrick
joined the WHOI staff in 1991 as a senior scientist after 13 years as a
professor at the University of Rhode Island. He received a bachelor's
degree in geology and physics from Lehigh University in 1971 and a
master's degree from the University of California, San Diego in marine
geology in 1974. After a brief stint as an exploration geophysicist for
Standard Oil Company of California, he earned his doctorate from the
MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography in 1978.

NSF's Division
of Earth Sciences supports basic research and education into the
structure, composition, and evolution of the Earth, and the life it
supports. The Division has programs in geobiology and low-temperature
geochemistry, geomorphology, sedimentary geology and paleobiology,
hydrology, geophysics, tectonics, and petrology and geochemistry.

The
results of this research are leading to a better understanding of the
Earth's dynamic history, and the distribution of its natural resources,
as well as providing the basic knowledge needed to predict and mitigate
the effects of geologic hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions, floods and landslides.

Originally published: August 26, 2008

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